Our countdown application is great for running keyword experiences or replacing text-to-win experiences. In this article I will take you through the set up process and everything else you will need to manage it once it's running.
*If you are setting up a syndicated or hosted countdown experience, check out our syndication walkthrough here!
The countdown set up process is broken up into two main steps.
Entry form set up
Keyword/Prize set up
Step #1 - Setting up the entry form
If you are familiar with setting up our sweepstakes experience this step should look very similar to you, but with a couple of differences. There is no desktop set up and users will only see steps 1, 2, and 3 of your entry form.
This application will display the mobile version to both desktop users and mobile users. Your experience interface should look and perform exactly the same across different devices.
Step #2 - Setting up your prizes and keywords
To set up your prizes and keywords navigate to the "Prizes" tab in the top left of your experience set up page.
Generating Keywords
There are two methods of creating keywords.
The first method would be generating them manually using out keyword generator. To use our keyword generator, click the "Settings" button on the righthand side, then enter the start and end date of the experience. Then enter how many keywords you would like to generate, per day. Lastly, click "Go!"
Alternatively, also within the settings section on the prizes tab, you can upload a csv of keywords. You will find a full explanation about how the file needs to be formatted for it to work, as well as an example file of what it would look like in that section.
Note: Countdown experiences are not easily extended. If you would like to extend the length of the experience, you will need to delete the current list of keywords and create a new list with the update dates. The previous keyword entry data and stats will not be accessible after doing so!
Note: You are unable to upload a csv of keywords to a Countdown experience that has been syndicated down to you. Any custom keywords would need to be manually adjusted.
Prize Page
After generating your keywords, you will now see a page similar to this. As you can see, the keywords are broken up into days. You can turn these day off and on or edit them by clicking on the day.
Prize Page Settings
Which timezone? - This setting allows you to set the keyword time frames to mimic your child account's timezone. If you are not running a syndicated experience, you can ignore this setting.
Accept submissions until - Here you will adjust the length of time each keyword is live.
Note: Only ONE keyword can be active at a time on a Countdown experience. If you want more than one keyword active at a time, it is recommended to use a Sweepstakes experience and utilize either the "Keyword+" or "Keyword" field.
Editing the Congratulations Screen
Editing your Congratulations Screen message is especially important with this experience type. It allows you to give more information about announcing the winners and where to tune in to receive the keywords. To access the Congratulations Screen setup, click on More Settings and use the Congratulations Screen editing box.
Editing Keywords
Once your keywords are generated, you can click on a keyword field and edit that keyword.
Click on and drag the blue globes to change the schedules of your keywords. *Tip: click on the blue globes and use the left/right arrow keys to dial in your desired time.
Once you set up one keyword day, you can clone the times across all of your keyword days by clicking "Use as Template"
To choose a winner from a keyword, click the "Choose Keyword Winner" button.
Lastly, you can enable or disable keywords by clicking the "Enabled" toggle switch.
Keyword Stats
Navigating to the "Keyword Stats" tab in the top right will allow you to view how many times each keyword has been submitted throughout the experience. This page will only show you keyword information. If you are looking for general experience stats, navigate to the "Stats" tab in the top right.
Turn off the Countdown keyword timer
To turn off the Countdown keyword timer that is displayed on the front end, select More Settings and deselect the Show Countdown Clock checkbox..
We hope this article has helped you get your Countdown experience up and running! As always, if you have any other questions you can contact us at 801-901-2011, emailing us at support@audience.io, or by using our live chat feature.